by Nikki Ash
Zoe’s babbling has me standing and going to her. Lifting her out of her crib, I bring her over to my bed and lay her next to me. Holding her tight, I stroke her soft black hair until her eyes flutter closed and she falls asleep, and then I let myself fall asleep as well.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
My eyes shoot back open.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Is someone knocking on the door? Nobody ever knocks on the door. Carefully edging off the bed, so I don’t wake Zoe, I go to the window to see who’s there. I can’t see the front door, but I can see part of the driveway.
Maserati GranTurismo.
Charcoal-gray.
Black on black tires.
It can’t be… There’s only one man I know who has that exact car…
Kostas.
He’s here. He’s going to save us.
And just like that my hope is restored. Like a sliver of light illuminating my dark world, I can finally see again. I’m chasing it. Running toward the brightness.
I don’t bother trying to open the window because I already know it’s nailed shut, but I watch the vehicle, refusing to look anywhere else. The house is quiet. Selene must be outside talking to him. Does he know I’m here? I listen with bated breath until I hear the front door close.
Is he in here? I can’t decide whether to abandon the window to go bang on the door, or stay by the window to catch a glimpse of him. Before I make a decision, though, I see him. In his signature suit, he stalks back to his car. Strong, powerful, handsome. I miss him so much it hurts. My palms hit the glass, hoping he will somehow hear me.
“Kostas!” I cry out, knowing it’s futile.
His hand freezes on the handle, and he turns. Did he hear me?
“Kostas!” I yell again, my palms smacking so hard against the window, they’re stinging. “Kostas! I’m here!”
His eyes assess the area before he opens the door and folds himself into his car. And then he’s gone. And as quickly as the light came, it’s now gone. Leaving me stumbling through the darkness alone.
A flood of tears gush down my cheeks as I watch my fucking husband’s headlights get farther and farther away until they’re completely gone.
One year and he’s never been here. And when he finally does show up, I’m locked in my fucking room. He must know something. That’s why he came here. He’s looking for me. I know he is.
Oh, Kostas, you’re so close. Don’t give up, please. I’m here, waiting for you.
Crawling back to my bed, I snuggle back up with Zoe. She’s awake now from me yelling, but as soon as I comfort her, she falls back asleep. Such a good girl. She deserves more than this. More than being held prisoner.
“It’s okay, cara mia, we’re going to be saved.”
“Wake up,” Aris barks. His voice startles Zoe and she lets out a loud cry. I glare daggers his way, but he doesn’t care. “It’s time to eat.”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll eat later.”
“You’ll eat now, or you won’t eat at all,” he threatens.
After changing Zoe’s diaper, I grab a bottle to bring out to the table. When I get out there, Selene and Aris are both at the table, already eating their dinner. Steak, broccoli, and potatoes au gratin. He must’ve brought it home because Selene can barely make grilled cheese without burning the shit out of it.
When I walk past the table, Aris’s hand lands on my thigh. “I’m going to grab a jar of food for Zoe.”
“I’ll get it,” he says. “Sit down.”
“Fine.” I set Zoe in her high chair and place a bib around her neck. She giggles her delight, slapping her tray in excitement.
Aris brings over a jar of sweet potatoes and a spoon and sets them in front of Zoe before sitting back down. Zoe grabs the spoon and bangs it against her tray. “Da-da-da,” she babbles. Aris’s eyes meet mine. “Da-da,” she continues. She’s too young to know what she’s saying. She’s just making random noises, but the thought that she’s calling him da-da has me feeling sick to my stomach.
I open the jar and begin feeding it to Zoe, when Aris finally speaks. “Until further notice, you will be locked in your room while I’m not home.”
“Are you seriously going to keep me and your daughter locked in a room for hours at a time?” I shoot him a glare.
“Or I can have Selene take care of her and just keep you locked up…” Aris smirks with a shrug.
Selene huffs, and when I look at her, the entire side of her face is black and blue. I can’t help the grin that splays across my face. That pan got her good.
“Fuck you,” she spits. “Hope it was worth it.”
“Oh, it was,” I volley. “Looks like you’re going to be needing another visit to the plastic surgeon. Probably for the best since they fucked up your face the first time around anyway.”
“Aris, haven’t you had enough of this bitch? Your brother was here today! He’s snooping around and he’s going to find her.”
My gaze swings over to Aris, whose eyes widen.
“Kostas was here?” he growls, venom in his tone. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did!” Selene screeches. “And he was asking questions. How long until he figures out you have his precious Talia? Just kill her already. We can take your baby and run.”
At her words, I snatch the steak knife off the table and dart around behind her, putting her into a headlock before she can even think about what to do. With the knife against her throat, I meet Aris’s gaze. “You let this woman touch my fucking baby and I will slice her throat.”
“Enough,” Aris stands. “Put the damn knife down.” He steps toward me and I press the blade against Selene’s throat.
“Aris!” she cries.
“Talia, calm down.” Aris’s eyes dart over to Zoe. When he steps toward her, I have no choice but to let go of Selene.
“Don’t you touch her.” With the knife still in my hand, I lift my daughter out of her high chair.
“She’s my daughter too,” Aris sneers. “And if I want to fucking touch her, I will.”
He steps toward me and I take a step back. When he doesn’t make another move, I continue backing up until I’m back in my room.
“We’ll deal with this tomorrow,” Aris says. “Clearly shit needs to change around here.”
Without saying another word to him, I slam the door in his face, and then I pray to God that Kostas comes back for me and Zoe. Because if he doesn’t, I’m not sure how much longer Aris is going to keep me alive.
Kostas
I’m seeing shit.
Losing my goddamn mind.
It. Was. Her.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and debate on what to do next. Either I can drive my ass back over to Aris’s house and find out for sure, or I can sit here like a pussy wondering.
I’m just downing the rest of my dinner in a restaurant between the hotel and Aris’s, when my phone rings. I could answer it and tell him right now that Father is dead. Most days, I’m a dick, but even I won’t do that to him. No, I’ll do like I intended when I drove over there earlier and tell him to his face. I send his call to voicemail. Seconds later, I get a text.
Aris: Did you come by?
The next text comes immediately after.
Aris: What did you need?
Aris: Want to meet up?
I groan and before I can reply, he continues blowing up my phone.
Aris: Selene said you had something important to talk about.
Aris: I don’t hit her if that’s what you’re wondering. She fell.
Fell?
I’m not stupid. That bitch did more than fall. Someone bashed her fucking head in.
My mind drifts to earlier.
“What do you want?”
I lift my brow and sneer. “Excuse me?”
“How did you even get on the property?”
“I used the fucking code,” I growl. “Were you trying to keep me out?”
Selene has the sense to stand d
own once she remembers who she’s talking to and shakes her head in vehemence. I’m not some pushover like Aris. I will drag her skinny ass back to the cellar by her fake-red hair to remind her if I need to. Luckily, she replaces her snotty expression with one of healthy fear.
“What’d you do to your face?” I ask, nodding to indicate the giant ass bruise that looks fresh and is forming beneath her swollen-red flesh.
She purses her fat lips before letting out a huff of exasperation. “I fell.”
Says every woman hiding the fact she’s being hit by a man.
“The floor must fucking hate you.”
“And I hate the fucking floor too,” she snarls out. “Aris went to…run an errand. Is there something I can help you with?” Her venom bleeds away as her green eyes skim down the front of my body in appreciation.
“Nah,” I grunt out. “I’ll come by another time.”
When I turn to leave, she grips my bicep. “Call him first.”
I glower over my shoulder at her. “Are you his keeper?”
“W-What? No. He’s just always busy and rarely home. You should call him first so you don’t miss him.”
“Hmmm,” is all I say before breaking from her hold and walking away.
The door slams shut behind me. I’m almost to my car when I feel eyes on me. Stopping, I turn and look back toward Aris’s massive house.
Blond hair.
A woman.
Talia?
But when I squint, the vision vanishes. That’s all she is to me now. A fucking ghost.
God, I miss her. I’d give up my entire fortune to have her in my arms just so I could inhale her hair. I don’t know that I even remember what she smells like anymore. The fact I’d give up everything to see her once more is disappointing. I’d always thought of myself as someone powerful. Someone who doesn’t need anyone else.
Like my father.
Turns out, I was never like him.
I was always like my mother.
After I pay my bill, I leave the restaurant and inhale the early fall air. The sun has gone down. It’s only just hitting me that my father really is gone. I extinguished him from this earth. Remorse or guilt should flood through me, but all I feel is relief. I was never allowed to figure out who the real Kostas was. He bred me into his monster. For his favor over my brother, I gladly heeded every instruction. And now I’m nothing but a shell. I don’t want to do anything but fill up my entire being with her.
My wife.
Fuck, I’m losing it.
I need to tell Aris Father is dead and then move the fuck on. At some point, I will have to accept that Talia probably is too. A year is a long time—too long in my world—to be missing without a word. If she’d run away, I would’ve known about it. Someone would have tattled.
She’s dead.
It’s a hard pill to swallow.
One I have trouble choking down because too much uncertainty rattles around inside my head.
I pull up to the gate and punch in the same four digits Aris uses for everything. It’d been a no-brainer when I’d come earlier, but after the way Selene acted, it made me wonder if they were trying to keep me away.
So I wouldn’t see that he beats on her?
Like I give a shit. She probably runs her fucking mouth too much and earned that knock to the head. We’re villains, not goddamn heroes. Who am I to judge?
No, if they wanted to keep me away, it’s for other reasons.
Reasons that niggle and tug at me, desperate to be thrown out in the open.
I pull up to the house and park in the driveway. Lights shine from a window in front of the house and then some upstairs. Climbing out, I pause to listen. Nothing but the breeze picking up as a fall storm rolls in. The wind whistles and I scent the promise of rain.
As I walk toward the front door, my eyes drift of their own accord to the window where I’d thought I’d seen someone. When a figure stands in front of the glass, the light shining around them, my heart does a squeeze in my chest.
I blink several times to clear my vision.
Still there.
Blond hair. A woman.
I’m storming over to the window before I can stop myself. Wide, teary blue eyes meet mine. Familiar blue eyes. Her blue eyes.
No. Fucking. Way.
“Zoí mou.” My life.
Her bottom lip trembles—lips I’ve ached to kiss for so long it’s maddening. This can’t be real. She can’t be staring back at me from behind the glass of Aris’s fucking house. It makes no sense. I’m truly losing my goddamn mind.
“Kostas.”
The voice of an angel carries through the glass, shattering what little bit was left of my heart. She’s alive. She’s alive and well and standing right in fucking front of me.
“Open the window,” I rumble, my words barely a whisper.
She looks over her shoulder and shakes her head. “I can’t.”
Fury swells up inside me to incredible heights. “Open the fucking window.”
Tears race down her cheeks as she moves her plump lips rapidly, speaking in hushed tones that are somehow supposed to send me away.
I’m not going anywhere.
Bending, I try to open the window, but it’s locked shut. I point at the lever and thump the glass hard. “Talia, unlock the window.”
“I can’t.”
I slam my fist on the window, making her cry out in surprise.
“I said open the window or so help me I’m coming right through it,” I growl. “Open it. Talia, open it!”
When she steps away, turning to look toward the door again, I lose it. With a swift swing of my elbow, I bust out a pane of glass. I reach my hand inside and flip the lock. It still won’t open.
Talia rushes back over to me and reaches her hand through the glass pane. Her touch is soft as she runs her fingertips along my cheek. “I can’t, Kostas. It’s nailed shut.”
Nailed shut.
What in the actual fuck?
I grip her wrist in a tight grip and then lean in to kiss her palm. I’m afraid to let her go because she might just fucking vanish again, but I need to get to her. I need to hold her.
“Stand back,” I order.
She jerks her hand back and steps away from the window. I could go beat on the front door, make my brother answer, and demand he hand her over, but right now I’m on a one-track mission. Get to my fucking wife. Hiking my leg up, I kick hard along the metal strip along the middle of the window.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I kick over and over until the metal frame of the window is mutilated and folded in, glass broken all over at my feet. Once I’ve weakened it enough, I slam my shoulder into what’s left of the window and send it and myself careening to the floor. I’m on my feet in the next second, prowling after Talia.
Anger. Betrayal. Sadness. Confusion.
My emotions spin around and around like a fucking tornado. I’m ready to cause massive destruction. I want to destroy everyone.
Gripping Talia’s throat, I walk her back until her ass hits the door. I bury my nose in her hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo mixed with her natural sweat. The growl rumbling through me is a possessive one bordering on rage. My thumb traces along the vein in her throat that’s pulsing rapidly.
“Why?” It’s the only word I have. It’s a loaded question.
“I don’t know.”
I pull away and glower at her. “You want to be here?”
She shakes her head, fat tears rolling down her red cheeks.
“You’re trapped here?”
A sob escapes her. “We have to get out of here.”
I’m distracted by her bottom wobbly lip, and now that I know she’s a captive for some fucked-up reason, I need her like I need my next breath.
“Zoí mou,” I whisper over her lips. “I’ve fucking missed you.”
Slamming my lips to hers, I take the kiss I’ve been craving since the moment I let her walk away from me after our fight. I slide my
hand up to her jaw, gripping her tight so she can’t escape me as I ravish her perfect mouth. She moans as I devour her lips and tongue. Her fingers thread through my hair, cradling me to her. My other hand finds her hip and I slide it to her ass that’s fleshier than I remember. I want to strip her down right here and inspect every part of her body to see if she’s changed. A choked sound escapes her when I rotate my hips, rubbing my aching cock against her body.
“Da-da-da-da.”
I freeze mid-kiss. When I hear an excited shriek, I yank away from Talia, my head darting around to find the source. My eyes land on a baby. A fucking baby. With bright blue eyes like Talia.
Talia steps toward me. “Kostas, listen—”
“A baby?” I growl, snapping my head back to look at her.
Her chin is tilted up and her watery eyes are fierce. “My baby.”
I stumble back, feeling as though she’s kicked me in the gut. A baby. Her baby. And Aris’s? The baby makes another sound and I can’t help but look over at her.
“Kostas,” she says, walking over to the baby and picking it up. “Her name is Zoe.”
All the air is sucked from my lungs as I snap my eyes back to the little girl.
Zoe.
Zoe.
Zoe.
“Zoe, zoí mou?”
Tears well in her eyes and she nods rapidly.
Holy shit.
Our baby.
We had a fucking baby.
All happy thoughts come to a screeching halt. I’m going to murder them. Slaughter both Aris and Selene. Right the fuck now.
“Kostas,” Talia says, her voice shaking as she rushes over to me. “We have to go. Now.”
The baby—Zoe—grabs the lapel of my suit and tries to pull it her way. I’m stunned for so many fucking reasons. All I can do is lean forward and inhale her dark hair.
Mine.
She’s fucking mine.
They both are.
I’m eerily calm as I say, “I’m going to kill them.”
“And I want you to,” she whispers. “But we need to get Zoe someplace safe. Selene has a gun and she’s not afraid to use it.”
My mind wars with what I should do. The mobster inside me craves violence and blood and vengeance. The husband—and father—in me has an overwhelming urge to protect what’s mine.
